Telviva launches Viva, a digital agent for South African businesses

Businesses still have staff spending their time answering the same questions, transferring calls and looking up information for customers. Telviva wants Viva to handle some of that work. The new digital agent can answer calls, respond to WhatsApp messages and access information from a company’s existing systems. The South African cloud communications company says it built and hosts Viva locally. The product targets businesses that want to automate some customer interactions while keeping employees involved when needed. Viva can answer an incoming call, understand what the customer needs and direct the call to the right person or department. It can also handle conversations through WhatsApp and web chat. When a business connects Viva to its CRM or ERP systems, the agent can look up information such as an order status, account balance or contract date. This means employees do not always have to stop what they are doing to answer a simple question or search for information that already sits in the company’s systems.

Viva comes in four versions

Telviva offers Viva in four tiers. Viva Starter works as a digital receptionist. It answers calls, checks whether employees are available and directs callers to the right person or department. Viva Business adds WhatsApp and web chat. The agent uses information from a company’s website or FAQ documents to answer customer questions. Viva Professional connects Viva to a company’s CRM knowledge base. This gives the agent access to the same information employees use when dealing with customers. Viva Enterprise connects Viva directly to CRM and ERP systems. The agent can then pull live information when a customer asks for it. A business can therefore start with call answering and routing before connecting Viva to more of its internal systems.

A human can still take over

Telviva does not expect Viva to handle every customer interaction on its own. When a customer has a problem that needs human judgement, the agent can hand the conversation to an employee. Telviva CEO David Meintjes said this separates Viva from the more rigid chatbots that businesses have used in the past. “A chatbot operates mostly in a rigid, predefined structure that mostly results in a poor customer experience; a digital agent is dynamic and easier to manage and makes the transition to a human when needed easier,” he said. For receptionists and contact centre staff, this could mean fewer calls about basic information and more time dealing with customers who need direct assistance. Telviva also expects employees to review conversations handled by Viva and check that the system gives customers the correct information.

Built for South African businesses

Telviva has focused Viva on voice calls and WhatsApp for Business, two communication channels many South African businesses already use. The company charges a fixed monthly fee for unlimited simultaneous interactions. This gives businesses a set monthly cost instead of a bill that rises with every customer conversation. Telviva says it hosts Viva in South African data centres and has built POPIA compliance into the system. Businesses with stricter data requirements can also choose private cloud deployment. Telviva says this option suits sectors such as financial services, healthcare and legal services.

The real test is whether it helps

For businesses, Viva will only matter if it reduces the amount of routine work that employees have to handle. Telviva measures whether Viva understands what customers want, whether it completes their requests and how quickly it responds during voice calls. The company says early implementations have allowed Viva to handle some incoming contact centre traffic without an employee stepping in. For businesses that use the CRM and ERP integrations, Telviva says Viva has also helped reduce the time spent handling queries and increase first-contact resolution. The results will depend on how each business uses Viva and what information it gives the agent access to. Telviva has spent around 20 years building cloud communications services for businesses. Viva adds another layer to those services, allowing companies to send some routine customer interactions to a digital agent. The basic idea is simple: Viva handles the calls and questions it can deal with, while employees step in when customers need a person. For a business handling hundreds or thousands of customer interactions, that could free up staff to spend more time on the problems that actually need their attention.